Research Robbe Pacquée

Abstract

The harmful effects of the building industry on our environment pose an increasing pressure on the development of new sustainable practices of construction. This project aims at laying the scientific foundation of basic design strategies to develop longer-lasting and more adaptable load-bearing structures of buildings, which are considered the most permanent building part and which hold the vast majority of embodied carbon. However, to design for change, change must first be understood. Through the empirical analysis of existing rehabilitated buildings, this project will generate novel insight into how and under which constraints buildings can indeed change, connecting findings from academic research and architectural practice.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario
• Co-promoter: Blom Johan
• Fellow: Pacquée Robbe

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

This research project aims to understand how buildings change over their lifetime if they are adapted. If buildings are not or cannot be used anymore, their very characteristic design, particularly its building structure, often prevents it from being adapted to new possible functions leading to vacancy and, consequently, demolition. Obsolescence is by far the main reason for demolition — and mostly of rather young buildings: Their service life (ca. 40 years) is thus much shorter than its physical life expectancy (min 80-100 years). Understanding the circumstances of change, first of its use and then of the building, and which components prevent or allow necessary transformations or extensions, forms a substantial basis for the design of new buildings. Such knowledge of change is largely missing. Building both on a detailed analysis of various case studies along their adaptations and the agency of stakeholders in the building industry, the project will model adaptability empirically to show how building functions, construction systems and materials are connected, and which paths of sustainable building design are most likely to produce long-living buildings.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario
• Co-promoter: Blom Johan
• Fellow: Pacquée Robbe

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project